Marked for Andrey Yakovlev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Dinamo Vologda's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dinamo Vologda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Danila Yezhkov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 192% of everything Dinamo Vologda earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Roman Anikeev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dmitry Dolgov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ciprian Marin damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match23 Nov 2026
Dinamo Vologda refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Vologda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match21 Nov 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match21 Nov 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dinamo Vologda can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Anton Betyuzhnov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ciprian Marin damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Vologda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ciprian Marin damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Dinamo Vologda make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Islam-Bek Gubzhokov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ciprian Marin damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Oct 2026
Spartak Moscow 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Vologda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Vologda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Yegor Plotnikov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Vologda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andrey Yakovlev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Dinamo Vologda settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Spartak Moscow 2 spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match30 Sep 2026
Neftekhimik ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market5 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dinamo Vologda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Lucas Daniel at 21 — 7.85
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lucas Daniel did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andrey Yakovlev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ciprian Marin commits to Dinamo Vologda for another 2 years.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 244% of everything Dinamo Vologda earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Daniel has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dmitry Dolgov breaks a bone — 57 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Sep 2026
Dinamo Vologda refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Kosmos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Islam-Bek Gubzhokov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Dinamo Vologda
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market28 Sep 2026
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Ciprian Marin arrives at Dinamo Vologda with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 65 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2026
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrey Yakovlev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Fernando Macedo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match19 Sep 2026
Yenisey 2 made Dinamo Vologda work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.72 on the card, and the Dinamo Vologda support went home talking about one name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 72 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Sep 2026
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market14 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dinamo Vologda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Cherepovets, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 86 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Aug 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Saturn will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nobody wants to play Dinamo Vologda right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Saturn made Dinamo Vologda work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Danila Yezhkov at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Dinamo Vologda.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Dmitry Dolgov out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Vologda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fernando Macedo commits to Dinamo Vologda for another 3 years.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Nikita Kireev at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Dinamo Vologda.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mikhail Petrolay dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Vologda can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vladislav Mamonov has just signed for Dinamo Vologda, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vologda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Zenit 2 made Dinamo Vologda work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Mamonov and Dinamo Vologda agree another 3 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Danila Yezhkov's contract
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.60 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dinamo Vologda had the best player on the pitch.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Dinamo Vologda will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrey Yakovlev and Dinamo Vologda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andrey Yakovlev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Dinamo Vologda have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dmitry Dolgov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Nikita Kireev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.